''After Dark'' is the second album by the American band

Cruzados The Cruzados were a 1980s rock band from Los Angeles, California. History The Cruzados were formed in 1983 by the members of The Plugz, featuring members Tito Larriva, Tony Marsico, Steven Hufsteter, Chalo Quintana, The band's self-titled a ...

, released in 1987. "Bed of Lies" reached No. 4 on ''Billboards

Album Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart; "Small Town Love" peaked at No. 39. The band supported the album with a North American tour that included a leg opening for

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...

. They broke up the following year.

Production

The album was produced by

Greg Ladanyi Greg Ladanyi (July 6, 1952 – September 29, 2009) was an American record producer and recording engineer of Hungarian descent, known for his work with many musicians, including Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, The Church, Caifanes, Anna Vis ...

Waddy Wachtel Robert "Waddy" Wachtel (born May 24, 1947) is an American musician, composer and record producer, most notable for his guitar work. Wachtel has worked as session musician for other artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Kim Carnes, Randy N ...

Rodney Mills Rodney Mills is an American mastering engineer based in Atlanta, Georgia. He has been involved in the music industry for over 50 years and has earned over 50 gold and platinum records for engineering, producing, and mastering. Biography A ...

, Tom Kelly, and

Billy Steinberg William Endfield Steinberg (born February 26, 1950) is an American songwriter. He achieved his greatest success in the 1980s with songwriting partner Tom Kelly; together they wrote or co-wrote the No. 1 hits " Like a Virgin" by Madonna (1984), ...

Marshall Rohner Marshall Lambert Rohner (December 20, 1963 in Iowa – October 18, 2005 in Yucca Valley, California) was a guitarist whose credits include: T.S.O.L., The Cruzados, Jimmy and The Mustangs, Kenny Brown and Dino's Revenge. Rohner appeared in seve ...

replaced Steven Hufsteter on lead guitar. "Road of Truth" contains contributions from

J.D. Souther John David "J. D." Souther (born November 2, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He has written and co-written songs recorded by Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles (band), Eagles. Souther is probably best known for his songwriting ab ...

on backing vocals and

Paul Butterfield Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and band leader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his n ...

on harmonica; Souther was in the same studio as Cruzados and told the band that he wanted to sing on the track. It was Butterfield's final recording.

Pat Benatar Patricia Mae Giraldo (''née'' Andrzejewski, formerly Benatar; born January 10, 1953), known professionally as Pat Benatar, is an American rock singer and songwriter. In the United States, she has had two multi-platinum albums, five platinum alb ...

sang on "I Want Your World to Turn". The songs were inspired by Tito Larriva's years living in El Paso and Mexico City. "Blue Sofa" was originally done by his band

the Plugz The Plugz (also known as "Los Plugz") were a Latino punk band from Los Angeles that formed in 1977 and disbanded in 1984. They and The Zeros were among the first Latino punk bands, although several garage rock bands, such as Thee Midniters an ...

. "Bed of Lies" was cowritten by

Lynne Marie Stewart Lynne Marie Stewart (born December 14, 1946) is an American actress, best known for her performance as Miss Yvonne, the Most Beautiful Woman in Puppet Land. She originated the role in the 1981 stage show ''The Pee-wee Herman Show'', continuing it ...

Critical reception

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' called the album "a plain but solid effort" aside from "Time for Waiting", opining that it "sounds nauseatingly like the Eagles." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' noted the "Springsteen-Mellencamp-Petty territory," writing that "Larriva has developed into a good-enough singer and songwriter in the Little Steven/Southside Johnny vein that the record transcends its obvious reference points." ''

The San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'' stated that "Cruzados play with the fire of the young Rolling Stones, but the fervor is wasted on a collection of weak songs." The ''

St. Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...

'' wrote that Larriva's "desperate vocals and yearning lyrics—coupled with the group's leftover punk instincts—gives ''After Dark'' a taut, emotional edge that California-rock always lacked." The ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' concluded that Larriva "is making music with far greater focus and immediacy than last time through." The ''

Omaha World-Herald The ''Omaha World-Herald'' is a daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, the primary newspaper of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. It was locally owned from its founding in 1885 until 2020, when it was sold to the newspaper ch ...

'' determined that "despite the radio-friendly, slick production work ... several tunes here are membrane-thin in staying power." The ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

'' labeled the album "honest, lyrically incisive music that hoists

he band He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

onto the cutting edge of contemporary American rock."

Track listing

All songs written by

Tito Larriva Humberto "Tito" Larriva (born 1953) is a Mexican/American songwriter, singer, musician, and actor. He came to prominence leading The Plugz, one of the earliest Los Angeles punk rock groups. Since the 1990s, his main musical outlet has been the T ...

, except where noted. #"Small Town Love" (Larriva,

Tony Marsico Tony Marsico (born Nov.8th, 1957) is an American bassist/composer best known as co-founder of the rock and roll band the Cruzados formed in 1983. (two albums on Arista Records (1985,1987). Prior to Cruzados, Marsico was a member of the Los Angeles p ...

) – 3:57 #"Bed of Lies" (Larriva, L. Stewart) – 3:36 #"Road of Truth" (Larriva, Marsico) – 3:08 #"Last Ride" (

, Larriva, Marsico) – 3:57 #"Time for Waiting" – 3:57 #"Young and on Fire" – 3:06 #"Summer's Come, Summer's Gone" – 3:36 #"I Want Your World to Turn" ( Tom Kelly,

) – 4:13 #"Chains of Freedom" – 3:47 #"Blue Sofa (Still a Fool)" – 4:58

Personnel

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

–

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

– bass, backing vocals *

Charlie Quintana Gonzalo Quintana III (January 29, 1962 – March 12, 2018), also known as Charlie Quintana or Chalo, was an American rock and punk drummer. He is best known as a founding member of the band The Plugz and as the drummer for the punk rock band Soci ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Additional personnel

Don Henley Donald Hugh Henley (born July 22, 1947) is an American musician and a founding member of the rock band Eagles. He is the drummer and one of the lead singers for the Eagles. Henley sang the lead vocals on Eagles hits such as "Witchy Woman", "Despe ...

– backing vocals on "Small Town Love" *

–

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

on "Road of Truth" *

– backing vocals on "Road of Truth" *

E.G. Daily Elizabeth Ann Guttman, (born September 11, 1961) better known as E. G. Daily and Elizabeth Daily, is an American actress and singer. Daily is best known for her animation voice roles as Tommy Pickles on ''Rugrats'' and its spin-off ''All Grown ...

– backing vocals on "Time for Waiting" *

Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...

– backing vocals on "Summer's Come, Summer's Gone" *David Williams – backing vocals on "Summer's Come, Summer's Gone" *Frank Marsico –

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

on "I Want Your World to Turn" *

– backing vocals on "I Want Your World to Turn" * Paulinho Da Costa – percussion *Paul Fox –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

*Charles Judge – keyboards * Tom Kelly – keyboards *Jim Lang – keyboards *Jai Winding – keyboards *Jerry Peterson –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

on "Blue Sofa (Still a Fool)" *

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

*Charlo Crossley – backing vocals *

David Lasley David Eldon Lasley (August 20, 1947 – December 9, 2021) was an American recording artist, singer, musician and songwriter. He was best known as a touring background singer for James Taylor, as a session singer on recordings by artists including ...

– backing vocals

Production

– mixing, producer *

– engineering, producer *

– engineering, mixing, producer *George Tutko – engineering * Tom Kelly – producer *

– producer *

Brendan O'Brien Brendan O'Brien may refer to: *Brendan O'Brien (bishop) (born 1943), Roman Catholic archbishop of Kingston, Ontario, Canada *Brendan O'Brien (cricketer) (born 1942), Irish former cricketer *Brendan O'Brien (journalist), senior Irish journalist on R ...

– additional engineering *Barry Conley – additional engineering *Shep Lonsdale – additional engineering *Dennis Kirk – additional engineering *

Sharon Rice Mary Sharon Vaughn (born May 2, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter and producer who was previously based in Sweden. She has written hits for artists such as Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Reba McEntire, The Oak Ridge Boys, George Jones, K ...

– additional engineering *Mark Ettel – additional engineering *

Doug Sax Doug Lionel Sax (April 26, 1936 – April 2, 2015) was an American mastering engineer from Los Angeles, California. He mastered three of The Doors' albums, including their 1967 debut; six of Pink Floyd's albums, including ''The Wall''; Ray Charles ...

– mastering

References

{{Authority control Cruzados albums 1987 albums Albums produced by Greg Ladanyi Albums produced by Waddy Wachtel Albums produced by Rodney Mills Albums produced by Billy Steinberg Arista Records albums